10 Mind-Blowing Long Takes

In terms of visual spectacle, this is the simplest entry on the list. Yet, this seventeen minute and ten-second long shot is the emotional centerpiece of the film. Steve McQueen's Hunger follows the devastating true-life story of Bobby Sands' hunger strike in the Maze Prison in 1981.

The shot in question simply captures the conversation between Sands (Michael Fassbender) and Father Dominic Moran (Liam Cunningham) as the priest attempts to steer Sands away from his hunger strike. Rather than cut between the two actors, McQueen and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt allows the conversation to unfold naturally in front of the static camera. In doing so, the viewer is effectually placed at the center of an urgent moral debate and forced to reckon with the implications of both sides.

The inherent boldness of such a patient sequence fades away as the two men argue their positions; the sequence's intensity rests more on their empirical dialogue and the conviction of the characters than on the showiness of the filmmaking. Fassbender and Cunningham prepared by moving into an apartment with each other and rehearsing the entire scene between twelve to fifteen times a day. Apparently, they got the scene down pat on the fourth take. The hard work shows as the sequence rests entirely on the intention of their delivery of such politically and philosophically loaded dialogue.

The effect works and makes for captivating viewing, capturing a different type of intensity than the harsh violence of the rest of the film.